


WKRP: After the Tornado

by LadySparrow01



Category: WKRP in Cincinnati
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Introspection, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 07:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28347954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySparrow01/pseuds/LadySparrow01
Summary: 'Maybe a quick phone call wouldn't hurt? Just five minutes. Just to make sure everything was alright. Andy sat up and reached for the phone on the side table, but stopped himself before he could grab the receiver. If he called the station, he would have to talk to Jennifer.'Stuck at home with a mild concussion, Andy has nothing to do but reflect on the events of the accident that landed him there. He can't pretend not to know what happened. And now he must deal with the knowledge that he and Jennifer kissed. Twice. Being the program director means being professional, but that's easier said than done when your stomach is doing backflips.A one shot set after the events of the episode 'Tornado' in season one.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	WKRP: After the Tornado

**"Memories help me hide my lonesome feelin'** **"**

Andy had never been particularly good at doing nothing, and now he was staring down the barrel of two whole weeks of it. Sitting on his couch, a throw pillow hugged to his chest, he looked up into the void of off-white nothingness that was his ceiling. The concussion had been mild, but even still the doctor had told him he needed complete rest from anything that would strain his mind. No reading, no television, no records.

His knee bounced with the agitation of having to force himself to sit still for more than two minutes together. He knew, logically, that he had been extremely lucky. How many people could say they'd been thrown by a bursting window in a tornado and boast only a few small abrasions and a mild concussion? Probably not many. But that mild concussion meant he was now trapped at home.

Boredom was unbearable. Even as a child he'd always needed to be doing something, unable to sit still for very long unless he was focused on something that really interested him. It had driven his mother and every teacher he'd ever had right up the wall. Sports had been a relief of sorts, as had other extra-curriculars like Debate Team and Student Council. And then, after graduation, the constant go of working was enough to take the edge clean off. He didn't have time to get bored. It was one of the aspects that had drawn him to radio in the first place. There was always something going on. Always. And not being in the know like this was driving a spike of restlessness right through him. He could practically feel the station's antics from his living room. But he couldn't call to check in. He couldn't even turn on his radio and listen to the tale-end of Johnny's show to make sure things were going alright.

All he could do was sit and pray that Johnny wasn't currently ranting to their handful of listeners about how tornados were sent by God to punish mobile homes.

"Just play the records, Johnny." Andy muttered to himself, fully aware that his program schedule was being heavily ignored by the ever independent Dr. Fever.

He could feel it like a sixth sense.

Maybe a quick phone call wouldn't hurt? Just five minutes. Just to make sure everything was alright. Andy sat up and reached for the phone on the side table, but stopped himself before he could grab the receiver. If he called the station, he would have to talk to Jennifer. His stomach did a nervous sort of flip and he dropped himself back into the couch, hugging the throw pillow a little tighter to his chest.

There wasn't much about what happened that he remembered. And the parts he did remember made him want to fold in on himself or disappear into the floor. One minute he had been trying to get Les away from the window in the bull-pen. The next he was laying flat out and Jennifer had been standing over him like an angel, her lovely face surrounded by her soft halo of pale blonde hair.

Andy covered his face with his hand, stomach flipping again, as he remembered how he deliriously begged Jennifer not to stop kissing him. He didn't really want to think about any of this, but it was better than stewing in his own bored agitation. Besides, if he could come to terms with what happened and make a plan for himself, it would be easier to see Jennifer again when he returned to the station. He smoothed his hand back through his hair, letting out a sigh as he leaned into the couch to look up at the ceiling again.

It was so unprofessional it made him queasy. But more than that, Jennifer was his friend. She already had Herb, and every other man who walked into the office, to contend with. The last thing he wanted was to be just another jerk who made her uncomfortable while she was trying to do her job. Eventually, he would be allowed to go back to work and he would have to deal with this. Just thinking about it made his stomach do nauseous backflips again. How, exactly, was that conversation supposed to go? 'Mornin' Jennifer, nice day - oh, by the way, I'm sorry I was so needy and desperate when you gave me the kiss of life the other week - any messages?' Andy could have kicked himself.

Normally, he was quite good at being professional and rational and approachable. He liked being that guy. But it would be difficult to be that guy when he knew that he'd had Jennifer's tongue in his mouth. Twice. There was no easy way back from that. But he couldn't let this become some big, horrible thing between them. He just couldn't.

WKRP was the first station he'd ever really felt a part of. Here, he wasn't the guy in the office who wrote up the program schedules and told the Jockies what they couldn't play. Well, he was. But he wasn't separate from the rest of the station the way he had been in Satna Fe, Albuquerque, and Amarillo. At WKRP he was up to his elbows in the lives of the other employees. They where his friends. And he didn't think he could stomach awkward, forced conversations with Jennifer or - come to think of it - the way Herb would probably glare daggers at him every time they were in the same room together. No, he needed to sort this out. The day to day function of the station depended on it.

His dull headache flared a little, which was probably a bad thing. He closed his eyes and made a real effort to not think of anything. He emptied his mind, pushing away his thoughts until there was just a void of nothingness like his ceiling. Nothing. Not a thing. Just empty space with nothing inside of it. What did nothingness actually look like, though? Was it grey? Grey was a colour and a colour was something, not nothing. Was it even possible to comprehend actual nothingness? Andy's leg began to bounce again as the spike of restlessness drove itself straight through his still very present embarrassment, conjoining into something that made all of his insides squirm.  
  


" _Damn_ it." He muttered under his breath.

Curled up on the rug by the coffee table, Bill let out an affronted sort of sigh.

"Sorry, Pal. Couldn't help it." Andy told the dog and nudged him affectionately with one foot.

Andy tried to think of nothing again. But even setting his mind to it couldn't keep his thoughts from drifting back to what had happened. Maybe everything with Jennifer hadn't actually been that bad? After all, he had been knocked boots over hat by a tornado. He remembered he had started kissing Jennifer back even before he really knew who she was. But then he smelt her perfume, felt her perfectly manicured nails against his skin, and all at once he'd known it was her. She'd pulled away and that was when he had asked her not to stop kissing him. Andy could have kick himself again. He remembered saying a few other things too, but he couldn't remember what they had been. Stomach sinking, he hoped it wasn't anything more embarrassing than groggily begging his friend to put her tongue back in his mouth.

With more clarity, he remembered that she had, at one point, started kissing him again. And he had been with it enough by that point to really kiss her back. Like properly, actually, intentionally, kiss her back. Andy sunk lower into the couch and covered his face with throw pillow, letting out a muffled groan. No, it really had been bad. He had grabbed at her gently, pulling her on top of him until her weight had settled against his chest and stomach. He could almost still feel the way she molded against him. Had he been apologizing even while he kissed her? He couldn't remember. He just knew that the sensation of being wrapped up with her was overwhelming. It had made his breath come out hitched and shaky, almost as though he were crying. Lord, he hoped he hadn't actually been crying. How would he explain that? He hardly understood it himself.

It wasn't even as though he had any serious feelings for Jennifer. She was a kind, intelligent, beautiful person. But he wasn't attracted to Jennifer in the way his delirious actions probably implied. At least, he didn't think so. He'd always figured that the only person who had a chance of getting him into that kind of trouble around the station was Baily. But it had been obvious the first moment he'd met her that she was nursing a pretty serious crush on a very oblivious Johnny. Poor kid. It was exactly that kind of complicated mess that drove Andy to avoid workplace romances all together.

So then, why was it so difficult to stop thinking about Jennifer? Andy sighed to himself, taking his face out of the throw pillow and letting it drop back against his chest. It was selfish of him to let his thoughts linger on this one moment. And he didn't like thinking about Jennifer like this, innocent as it all was. It felt unfair. The sooner he put it out of his mind, the better it would be for both of them.

It had been so damn long since he'd been kissed. 

So very, very long. He'd gone out with a girl in Santa Fe a few times when he was there. She was nice and easy to talk to and he'd liked her. Andy supposed one of their chaste goodnight kisses after catching a movie together would have been the last time. He hadn't been kissed in the way Jennifer had kissed him in ages. Not since Linda, probably. But he really didn't want to think about that. It made his chest hurt, even now.

Andy closed his eyes tight against the familiar body ache that pooled out from the center of his chest until it lingered just below the surface of his skin. He hugged the throw pillow firmly and turned his focused to breathing. The familiar, unsettling feel of needing to be touched didn't pass, though. The pressure of the pillow against his chest help a little, but it was far from the real thing. And suddenly all he could think about was the way Jennifer had fit so easily against him, her comforting weight in his arms, her breath on his face. She'd smelt faintly of rose water. And she had put her hands in his hair. He could almost feel her soft mouth against his.

Andy bit the inside of his cheek hard to snap himself out of it, then muttered crossly, "Come on, man. Pull yerself together."

His memory of things got pretty fuzy again. He remembered being taken out into the lobby at one point, then going down in the elevator which must have started working again. The next thing he knew, a paramedic was shining a pen-light into his eyes, asking him questions about the day of the week and if he knew who the President was. But he did remember just how kind Jennifer had been throughout the whole thing. She had been with him in the elevator and all through the paramedic checks, speaking in her reassuringly gentle voice the whole time. And though he couldn't really express himself then, Andy had been grateful that she was the one with him.

She really was a good friend. He couldn't, he realized, let his own self-conscious embarrassment get in the way of that friendship. He would just have to put his own feelings aside and face up to having a mature conversation with her about what had happened. She deserved, at the very least, to know that she didn't have to add him to her already very long list of relentless suitors. Andy sighed again. He really would have to have a long talk with Herb. It wasn't right for him to treat Jennifer in the way he did. And Andy hadn't been raised to turn a blind eye or brush that sort of thing off as 'boys just being boys', whatever that was supposed to mean. No, he would make it clear that Herb's behavior wasn't acceptable.

And then he would talk to Jennifer and sort everything out. It would be embarrassing and uncomfortable, but if he just explained himself and apologize and thanked her for her kindness she would probably understand.

After all, Jennifer was his friend.

\---

Andy had jitters all the way up the elevator and down the hall to the station's lobby. He was glad to get back to work. The last two weeks of staring at the ceiling and building card houses had been agony. It had gotten easier when he was told he could listen to music again. And even though he was on the wrong side of the radio, being able to tune into the station these past few days had made him feel a little less cut off from his normal life. But he was still nervous about the conversation waiting for him.

He took a breath to steady himself and pushed open the door into the lobby. He could hear Herb's low, rambling voice before he saw him. The salesmen was perched on the edge of Jennifer's desk, obstructing her from Andy's view with the teal and lilac suit he wore. Herb was going on about some restaurant he knew where the booths were cozy and quiet. Andy took another breath, tucked his hat under his arm, and stepped up to the desk.

"Hey, Herb." He greeted.

"Hiya, Andy. How's you're noggin?" Herb replied nonchalantly, turning around to look up at him.

"Oh, just fine. Thanks for askin'." He told him, tossing a smile in Jennifer's direction now that he could see her, "Mornin'."

She smiled back, totally at ease despite the salesmen still perched on her desk, "Hi, Andy."

"Herb, why don't you buzz off and do some work?" Andy kept his voice light and friendly as he said the words.

Herb shrugged a little, stood up, and straightened his suit jacket, "Surely. I'll catch you later, Beautiful."

Andy knew which part had been directed to Jennifer, but he couldn't stop himself from saying, "Oh, I look forward to it, Dear. I wanna talk to you about somethin'."

Herb was a little taken aback, stopping short on his way to the bull-pen to look back at Andy while he processed what he'd said.

Then he smiled his winning sales-guy-smile, and shot Andy a pair of finger-guns, saying, "You got it, Boss."

He probably thought Andy wanted him to go and chat up a prospective client. Which, to be honest, Andy did want. But that wasn't going to be the only subject of their coming conversation. When Herb had sauntered off, Andy turned to Jennifer with knots in his stomach. But it was time to be Mr. Professional, Rational, and Approachable.

"You okay?" He asked.

"You mean about Herb?" She raised her eyebrows, "Oh, I'm fine."

"I'm gonna have a talk with him about the way he's always carryin' on after you. See if we can't clear that up." He told her.

She flashed him a dazzling smile, "That's sweet of you, Andy. But you don't need to worry. Herb's nothing I can't handle."

"You sure?" He pressed gently.

"Positive." She popped her chin onto her hand, resting it against her desk, "But I'll let you know the second I'm out of my depth. How does that sound?"

Andy couldn't help but smile at her cheerful, carefree attitude, "Well, alright then. It's a deal."

He was still going to pull Herb into his office a little later and remind him about acceptable work-place conduct, though. Jennifer was right about being able to handle herself. It wasn't Andy's place to swoop in and rescue her if that wasn't what she wanted. But, as station management, he could certainly highlight all the reasons why it was more productive for Herb to be at his own desk rather than lingering around Jennifer's.

Andy put his hand in his pocket and tried to build himself up for what had to come next. His stomach had given up on flips and had taken up a whole trapeze act.

"Was there something else?" Jennifer asked helpfully, giving Andy the opening he needed.

"There was, yeah. I wanted to talk to you about, um, the other week." He couldn't bring himself to really look at her, his attention suddenly captivated by the scuffed toe of his boot.

"Oh, that." There was a smile in Jennifer's voice, "I just did what any good citizen should do."

When he looked up, he could see that she was teasing him. Her smile was from ear to ear and she was leaning forward in a playfully endearing kind of way. Andy felt all his muscles relax at once, a small laugh escaping him as the tension he'd been sitting with faded away.

"Well, I think you did a little more than that." He teased back.

She chuckled, leaning back in her chair, and patted her desk in invitation, "I assure you, I had formal first-aid training."

"Oh, I believe it." Andy agreed, coming to sit on the edge of her desk, "You took very good care of me."

There was a layer of seriousness that sat just under his teasing. Jennifer picked up on it in an instant and her playful smile turned warm.

"I'm happy to have helped." She replied, her tone gentle and comforting.

Andy leaned in a little, not too keen on being over heard by anyone who might be around, "Really, Jennifer, I'm sorry about all that."

"You weren't yourself." She gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Unfortunately, I think I was probably more myself than it seemed. It's been a while since I was _recertified_ in first-aid, you see." He told her, continuing with the convenient metaphor, "I got a little carried away."

"So did I." Jennifer replied, flashing him a wide, easy smile, "Its been a while for me, too."

He couldn't help but laugh a little at this, "Well then, we make quite the pair. But don't worry, I won't be making up excuses to come hang around your desk and pester you."

"I wish you would!" She exclaimed, her playful teasing back in full swing, "If you were here all hours of the day there wouldn't be room for anyone else."

"I don't think I could manage all day." Andy replied with a laugh, "I do have a lot of work to catch up on, you know. But hey, why don't I talk to Venus? Maybe we could work out some sort of a time-share deal."

"Oh, I like the sound of that." Jennifer beamed.

"So, we're alright?" Andy asked, needing to hear it confirmed to be sure.

"Absolutely." She agreed, "It's good to have you back, Andy."

"It's good to be back." He nodded, meaning every last word.

**Author's Note:**

> I am always looking to improve my work and appreciate feedback that I can build from. Thank you so much. And I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> This work is also Published on Fanfiction.net


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